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Los Angeles Lakers: 10 worst free agent signings in franchise history

By Cameron Salce

BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 13: General Manager Mitch Kupchak of the Los Angeles Lakers speaks Jerry West of the Golden State Warriors after practice as part of 2013 Global Games on October 13, 2013 at MasterCard Center in Beijing, China. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 13: General Manager Mitch Kupchak of the Los Angeles Lakers speaks Jerry West of the Golden State Warriors after practice as part of 2013 Global Games on October 13, 2013 at MasterCard Center in Beijing, China. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers
Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images /

The Los Angeles Lakers free agent signings this summer raised the eyebrows of some people, but they are nowhere near as bad as some previous signings. Here are the 10 worst signings in Lakers’ franchise history.

In the 2018 free agency period, the Los Angeles Lakers thrust themselves back into the playoff conversation with a series of big free agent signings, most notably LeBron James. However, the rest of the free agents they signed were met with a ton of criticism and were harshly criticized by different NBA pundits and analysts around the league.

Surrounding James with a cast of unique veteran characters is slightly concerning, but none of their recent additions come close to any of their worst free agent pickups throughout history. After this intriguing offseason, it seems like the perfect time to take a look back at the moves that actually deserved all the criticism they received.

It is pretty difficult to find very many front office mistakes in the tremendously successful history of the Lakers, especially since free agency began in 1988. However, there have definitely been some signings that they wish they could have gotten their money back for over the years.

The Lakers have barely missed the playoffs in their long impressive franchise run, making the past five seasons the worst stretch that any Lakers fans have seen. Two horrific free agent signings were a huge cause for their dramatic downfall and eventually got that front office regime fired.

There have been other down stretches throughout their history that pop up on this list as well. After the Showtime era and before Kobe and Shaq were acquired, the Lakers struggled to land a big name free agent and whiffed a few times while trying to find one. They also made some questionable moves after Shaq was traded that caused them to miss the playoffs before they were able to land Pau Gasol.

There were even a few questionable pickups while the Lakers were winning championships. Those moves were just covered up by some of the best rosters of all time that could win despite having a less than stellar supporting cast.

These are the top 10 worst free agent signings in the history of the Lakers franchise. Even the best teams in the NBA make mistakes, but the Lakers have been able to handle the consequences of these bad contracts better than most other teams over the years.

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